Doesn't Ring A Belle
by TheChippingFeels
Summary: When Belle refuses to leave Rumpelstilskin's castle the storyline takes some interesting turns, although not all of them ended up in their favor. And when Henry finds them in his book he knows he must fix what Regina has done. (Rumbelle AU)
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my first OUAT fanfiction so if you have any ideas or critiques please put them in the reviews**

 **All characters and some scenes aren't mine and belong to the creators of OUAT**

 **Chapter 1:**

 _(Storybrooke)_

Henry Mills sat in the library as he poured through the pages of _Once Upon a Time,_ his teacher, Mary Margret, had given it to him days before and he knew, he knew it was all real. Everywhere he looked he saw the characters in the people he knew.

His teacher, he saw Snow White, the town therapist, he saw Jimmany Cricket, his mother, as much as he didn't like it he knew she was the Evil Queen. He was determined to find everyone he knew.

"Wha'cha reading there Henry?" a unique accent sucked him out of his book, he looked up to see the doll-like face of the librarian, Miss French, she glanced over to him while she stocked up the bookshelves. "I don't think I've seen that in the library before."

"Oh it's not from here, it's um…" he searched for some sort of an explanation that he didn't think he would have to make, "It's homework." He said with an unconvincing smile on his face.

She came over and picked up the cover as she tilted her head to read the title, "Ah, fairy tales, very important." Miss French went back to shelving books, "I won't tell anyone." She said in a whisper as she winked.

Henry knew that she was joking but he also knew that Miss French would believe him before anyone else would. He never saw her outside the library and she always talked about books as though they were real. "Miss French?"

"Hmm?" she turns her head as her long, brown curls touched her shoulder. She had to be in the book somewhere, somewhere. "You believe books are real, right?" he asked, as she pondered the question he took a look at the book.

"Well do you?" she asked, with a slight look of concerned on her face. This obviously wasn't the time to tell her, he didn't have enough evidence.

"Well these stories had to come from somewhere right."

"Not necessarily," Miss French took the seat next to Henry as she finished shelving all the books on the cart and slid the book over to herself. "These are all fairy tales so they were all based on lessons and things in everyone's life." She started to flip through the pages and pointed to an example. "See here, Pinocchio, this was obviously made up but it was made up so children wouldn't lie. Just because it's made up doesn't mean it's not real."

Her speech confused him, that wasn't what he meant but she at least didn't think he was crazy. Miss French left him to maintain her position at the counter and Henry returned to the book. He had already read Pinocchio and started to read the next story.

 _The Beast continued to spin the straw into gold as Belle fiddled with the tall, dusty curtains that kept out all the sunlight. She looked over at him as her curiosity overpowered her better judgment._

 _"Why do you spin so much?" she asked him, he stopped spinning for only a second, the sound of her voice startling him. "Sorry, it's just, you've spun more straw into gold then you could ever spin."_

 _The Beast spun the wheel slower as he responded without looking at her, "I like to watch the wheel, it helps me forget." She stopped tugging at the curtains for a moment, "Forget what?"_

 _He stopped spinning, looking for an answer, "I guess it worked." He laughed at this even though it was far from the truth, Belle's mouth widened into a smile as he watched her giggle, he had no idea what she was doing with the curtains and got up to investigate. "What are you doing?" he asked her_

 _"Opening these, it's almost spring we should let some light in." she responded, she hadn't seen the outside world for months and the idea of bright light filling the dark castle was one she couldn't resist. She tugged harder and harder but the curtains refused to move, "What did you do? Nail them down?" she asked the Beast._

 _He looked at her, surprised, "Yes," he said as if it was the response most people would have. Belle rolled her eyes at this and pulled at the cloth until the curtains came down, causing her to loose her balance on the latter and fall to the ground. But she didn't hit the floor as she expected, instead Belle landed in the arms of the Beast._

"Miss French, is my son here?" the strict voice of his mother, Regina Mills came to him as he bookmarked the page and stuffed it into his backpack. Miss French looked up from the current book she was reading and looked over to the empty table Henry was sitting at not a minute earlier.

"Well he was here a little while ago but he doesn't seem to be here anymore so you might want to check somewhere else." She said, fully knowing that Henry was still in the library somewhere.

"Shouldn't you keep better track of the people you have in your library Miss French?" Mayor Mills snapped at her, Miss French gave her a half cold look and calmly retorted with, "I'm the librarian Mayor, not your babysitter, I don't think I'm the one who has trouble keeping track of Henry." She returned to her book and ignored the icy glares of Regina.

"You're walking on glass Miss French." She said, trying to keep the snarl to a minimum, Regina walked out the door as the heavy door closed behind her, Miss French craned her neck and called out, "You can come out now Henry." Henry emerged from behind the shelves and made his way to the window to make sure that his mother was out of the way.

"Henry," Miss French called out, he looked her way as she motioned for him to come closer. "Is there something going on with you and your mother? Is everything alright at home?" she whispered to him.

"No, everything's fine." He quickly replied, that was really the truth but everything he had read about the Evil Queen the more he doubted how good his mother really was. Miss French took his answer with a grain of salt though, "Okay, but you seem to really want to distance yourself from your mother, are you sure everything is okay?" she questioned further.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Henry what's really going on?"

He sighed and decided to tell her, "She's the Evil Queen." Henry left her with that answer and walked out the door.

 _With Belle in his arms the Beast took a moment to realize what exactly happened, both were equally surprised to see the position they were in, neither saying a word for a minute. He shook off the event and dropped her on her feet, Belle stumbled but quickly regained her balance, "Thank you." She said quietly as the Beast tried to casually pass it off, "It's no matter." He responded as he took a few quick steps away from her._

 _"I'll, um, put the curtains back up." Said Belle awkwardly, she and the Beast made eye contact and were about to return to their previous past times before he said, "There's no need, I'll get used to it."_

 _He walked back to the spinning wheel and didn't see the huge smile emerge on Belle's face._

There wasn't any question about it, Henry knew who Miss Isabelle French truly was, the only question that remained to him was who was her Beast?

Mr. Gold tinkered with one of the many trinkets that filled his shop, he didn't know what 90% of the things in his shop were or where they came from but they were interesting and kept him busy.

There was a mobile with crystal dolphins and unicorns, dancing around each other in endless circles in the air. There was a candle with two ends and strange designs, an Arabian lamp that seemed burned at the tip, a magnificent chess set, and countless other items. In the whole store there were hundreds of items in the pawnshop and he felt like he once knew about all of them, but only two pieces meant anything to him.

One was a spinning wheel, like everything he didn't know where it had come from or who it had once belonged to, but once in a while he would use it and the wooden wheel and delicate pedal felt natural as he sat at it for hours at a time. He didn't know what he was trying to accomplish by spinning it over and over, and most of the time he thought he was going mad, it was something that he was compelled to do.

The other was a chipped cup, something he never used, always cleaned, and shuddered at the thought of selling it, he had no idea what it was or why he had it.

But he knew for a fact that it was important.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I would really appreciate suggestions and critiques and if you have any small things or characters you want to see in this please put it in a review.**

 **All characters and some scenes belong to the creators of OUAT**

 **Chapter 2-**

Isabelle sat in the third booth table at Granny's Diner, not paying attention to her surroundings but instead immersed in _The Picture of Dorian Gray,_ like she had so many times before. She loved Oscar Wilde's writing style, she loved diving into the psychology of the characters and mentally deconstructing them like they were all 1000 piece puzzles. Books were her escape and they had been as long as she could remember, sometimes she longed for a life like the characters in her books, but most of the time she preferred living a thousand lives through the characters.

In front of her book was a mocha and scrambled eggs like she ordered every morning, and like every morning she waited until the last minute to eat and rushed to the library to resume reading until someone came in to check out something. Fortunately Ruby had learned this by now and re-heated her food before she ate it.

"Work in fifteen Iz." Ruby said, setting down her plate for the second time. Isabelle looked up, smirking; she set the book flat on the table and began to eat small portions of her food, but still basically stuck in the pages. Ruby rolled her eyes and continued with their routine, she took a seat across from Isabelle and slid the book away from her. "Eat, and don't wolf it down." She told Isabelle, her finger bookmarked the page her friend was on.

It was now Isabelle's turn to roll her eyes, "What would I do without you Ruby?" she said, taking a drink from her mug. Ruby put Isabelle's bookmark in the page before she stood up to serve the other customers. "You would always eat cold eggs." She retorted. Isabelle went on eating her breakfast, keeping an eye on the clock, she still had thirteen minutes, and it only took her a minute to walk to the library, plenty of time.

Just as she finished she saw Dr. Hopper walk in, recalling the events with Henry yesterday she called him over, "Dr. Hopper." He turned around and smiled when he saw her. "Miss French."

"I don't have much time but I need to talk to you about something." She had seven minutes left and decided that that was enough time.

"Well is something wrong, do you want to schedule a session?" he asked with concern.

"No, everything's fine with me, but do you know Henry Mills?"

"The Mayor's son, of course."

"Well he was at the library yesterday, and, well he was acting very strange."

"Well he's only a kid, it's probably normal." He laughed.

"No this was different, he had this book, not a library book, but this huge fairy tale book. And he kept asking me questions about if books were real, and when his mother came in he hid from her and then said she was the 'evil queen'." Dr. Hopper was now concerned. "I'm just worried something's going on at home, do you think you could look into that?" she had three minutes left and started to collect her belongings.

"Sure, I don't think that his fascination with his story book means anything, it's natural for a child his age to have an active imagination, but I could look into any issues at home." Dr. Hopper said.

"Thank you so much, I've got to go now." She said as she ran out the door.

 _Belle carried a tea tray across the biggest room in the castle, the ceiling seemed to reach the sky, the twelve foot windows that circled the room were all covered by thick, dusty curtains. Surrounding the room were pedestals with various objects that the Beast had collected and in the middle was a great table, and at the end sat the Beast, observing his new servant._

 _"You will serve me my meals, and you will clean the Dark Castle." He said to her._

 _" I understand." Replied Belle, looking downwards as she set the tea on the far end of the table._

 _"You will dust my collection and launder my clothing." He said._

 _"Yes," she carefully poured the tea, terrified of what would happen if she made even the slightest mistake._

 _"You will fetch me fresh straw for when I'm spinning at the wheel." He gestured to the wooden spinning wheel with a small pile of straw and a larger pile of gold._

 _"Got it," she nodded as she took the full tea cup with both hands."_

 _"Oh," the Beast put his hand up and pointed to the air, "and you will skin the children I hunt for their pelts."_

 _Belle dropped the teacup at this comment and it poured all over her dress, "That one was a quip," the Beast said in a mocking tone, "not serious." He waved his finger in the air. She laughed and bent down to pick up the teacup._

 _"Oh, um, I'm so sorry but it's chipped." She presented the cup, which did indeed have a small chip at the top. "You can hardly see it." She said in a shaky voice_

 _"Well it's just a cup." The Beast said, baffled by her concern, Belle began to pour another cup of tea, the Beast studying her curiously._

Henry was certain that Miss French was in fact Belle, for one she looked exactly like the illustration; she loved books, and was as brave and kind as the character. He wondered if she believed him. He couldn't exactly explain why but he just had the strongest feeling in the world that it was real.

He read the story of _Beauty and the Beast_ many times, over and over, Miss French would be easier to convince than anyone, and there were things that he'd noticed outside of the storybook.

No one ever came into Storybrooke, as far as he knew the only person ever to come to Storybrooke in forever was he when Regina adopted him. But no one ever left either, and anyone who tried to had been injured or had disappeared. The clock by the library was always at the same time and no one ever aged except him, he had found pictures of him and his mother when he was younger and she didn't look any younger or older than she did now. All he could do was wonder why this was and why he was able to get into Storybrooke in the first place.

He had read through the entire book, he had started a list of all the residents of Storybrooke and whom they really were. He hadn't gotten very far but he was sure it would grow.

 _Mom- Evil Queen_

 _Miss Blanchard- Snow White_

 _Dr. Hopper- Jiminy Cricket_

 _Miss French- Belle_

He assumed who a lot of people were but he didn't have any solid proof,

 _Red Riding Hood- Ruby_

 _Ms. Lucas- Granny_

 _The Magic Mirror- Sidney Glass_

All these people seemed like the story counterparts, from Ruby's red hair to his mom's apple tree in the backyard to the fact that Sidney Glass was the head of a newspaper called 'The Mirror'. Henry knew that most of this seemed crazy but it all made sense; this was all too real for him to be crazy. And he needed to find proof right away.

Somewhere in town there had to be a place where there was proof.

Isabelle finished _The Picture of Dorian Gray_ for what seemed like the 50th time and immediately chose the top book on the unread pile she kept at the librarian desk. She was the only librarian in Storybrooke, which meant that she never really got a break and aside from the occasional volunteer she didn't have any help in maintaining the library. That didn't bother her though, she was paid to be in the place she loved the most, not paid much but enough, she felt like the library was her own little part of the world, a sanctuary from nothing in particular. She had lived in Storybrooke all her life, she loved her town and as many times as she fantasizes about traveling the world, she couldn't leave it because something always told her that she didn't want to. Books took her wherever she wanted.

The library wasn't very big but there were a lot of books, whenever she got new books she usually had to cram them in the shelves but she was running out of room. The shelves reached the ceiling, the lighting was poor, the chairs in the middle of the library were falling apart, and it was always too hot or too cold. But it was home to her.

Henry came in through the heavy doors; still carrying the book from yesterday, it was Tuesday. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?" she said with slight sternness in her voice. Henry froze, he had gotten on the bus to school but he had ran to the library the second he got off. Isabelle walked over to him, put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrow. "Henry."

"Yeah, I um…" he murmured, he didn't really think about this. Isabelle sighed in exasperation. "Look, I let you get away with a lot but you can't skip school." Isabelle looked around, no one but Henry had arrived at the library, no one usually did until later in the day. "Come on, I'll drive you and we can make up some excuse."

She grabbed her keys and began to walk out the doors before Henry said, "Miss French, this is really important." She turned around quickly, "Does this have something to do with your mother? Is something going on?"

He shook his head, "No, I swear everything's okay at home, it's the book." He opened the book up and held it to where she could see. The page was the story of _Beauty and the Beast._ Isabelle sighed, "Henry, what is it about the book?"

"This is going to sound crazy but you need to listen to me, everything in this book is real." He said this as if it was a life-threatening secret. Isabelle looked at him and put her head in her hands.

"Henry, when I told you that books can be real, I didn't mean it literally." She said slowly, afraid that this was her doing, "I meant that, well, and you can take things in books like morals and themes and apply them to your own life. It doesn't mean it actually happened." Henry shook his head fiercely at this.

"No, it isn't like that, this is all real, and you're in it but you don't remember." He flipped a few pages to find an illustration of Belle, a near twin to Isabelle. "You're Belle, you just don't remember. The Evil Queen cast a curse so that everyone from this book is in Storybrooke but they don't remember who they are."

She felt a rush of relief, he was just playing a prank, it was obvious, "Okay then Henry that makes perfect sense, but you still have to go to school, now come on." She took her keys and Henry followed her out the door, as she flipped the sign on the door to 'closed' and locked up he went on about how various people were various characters. She went on nodding all the way as she drove him to the elementary school, it was harmless enough until something dawned on her.

"Henry, you said that your mother is the 'Evil Queen'?" he nodded his head, "Okay, I know she might seem strict, and that she's the mayor, but she's not evil alright, she really cares about you." She drove into the school parking lot.

Henry nodded; he got out the car and ran into the school, hugging his book to his chest. As Isabelle drove back she felt calmer and reassured, _It's just a prank, just something any ten year old would do. But why would he skip school over it?_ She shook the latter thought out of her head and continued to the library. When she arrived no one was there, just her and her books.

Henry had needed to tell Miss French about the curse as quickly as possible. He was smart; he knew she didn't believe him. And if the librarian didn't believe his book then who would? He needed proof, he needed physical proof, and he knew the place he needed to start looking.

Mr. Gold arrived at his pawnshop, he didn't bother to flip the sign on the door to 'open', and he didn't particularly want company anyway. Instead he went straight to the backroom to work on restoring old items. He needed to collect rent later on but for now he had his peace. Right now he didn't have people giving excuses or yelling at him for being unfair. This was his job, he quite enjoyed it but if he was being honest with himself, something he despised, he wished he could just have his pawnshop and his peace.

He spun the spinning wheel once before sitting at the desk and polishing various objects. Mindless and pointless, two words that filled up his whole life, he would collect rent, scare off a few people, and then hide himself away in his shop until he forgot the rest of his day. He meddled with the novelties until midday, when he resigned himself to his more prominent profession.

First collecting rent from Granny's Diner, the old woman gave him a cold look as she gave him what was due and through gritted teeth she asked him to stop by whenever he wanted to eat.

"You won't loose business if you drop the act dearie." He said as he walked out the door, Ms. Lucas shot him a stare that could kill the faint of heart as she resumed taking orders.

A few hours and a lot of angry glares later he had finished his daily tasks and proceeded to his shop, this time deciding to change the sign even though he thought no one would come. He didn't mind that people didn't like him, he almost cherished it, he had power and with power comes fear. People feared him and despised him, and he decided that it was better be feared than to fear someone else. He loved the power no matter how tiring it got. In his backroom he forgot all the things he wanted to, he spun the wheel to the point where it nearly hypnotized him. Spin to forget, spin to forget, spin to forget.

Henry ran from his bus stop to the pawnshop after he was dropped off, he had never been inside before and he had heard things about the owner, but if there was any physical proof of the curse he had a feeling it would be in the pawnshop. Any object would do, a dwarf pickaxe, a sword, a gauntlet, or a chipped cup, anything from the book. When he arrived he saw it was dark inside and there was no one in sight, but the sign said open and the door was unlocked, so he ventured through.

The light from the windows cast eerie shadows but gave the shop just enough light. Henry flipped through his book to find a picture of an object, he landed on a page from Pinocchio, there was a wooden cuckoo clock with distinct designs, crafted by Gepedio. It was so dark inside the shop and it would be hard to find it, he wondered if the shop owner was even in the shop at all, and if he was if he would be able to help him find it.

Henry looked high and low for the clock, careful of his step seeing as he was completely surrounded by delicate items. _Why is this place so dark?_

He crouched down to look at a bottom shelf, which seemed to be filled with multiple pairs of shoes, odd shoes. The clock obviously wasn't there and he stood up, forgetting he had his backpack on, the objects on the shelf behind him fell to the floor, he whirled around and was frozen in place as several items, some he knew were now broken fell to the floor.

Footsteps came into his ears as Mr. Gold looked down at the remains and then at Henry and said, "Well you've made quite a mess of things haven't you dearie?"


	3. Chapter 3

**AN- Thanks so much for the positive feedback, please tell me if there's anything I can improve on.**

 **All characters belong to the creators of OUAT**

 **Chapter 3-**

(The Enchanted Forest)

Belle sat in the dungeon as she awaited her fate, although she had had her own room upstairs for months she had been thrown back in to the prison cell for what seemed like hours ago. She could hear him breaking glass, some were large smashes of what she knew were shelves and cases and small _clinks_ from what she feared were teacups. She was going to have to wait for a while but that didn't change anything.

 _The kiss worked and that ridiculous man is just scared. He's going to come around eventually, it did work, and I saw that it worked._

 _He loves me._

Belle waited what felt like an hour before the door slammed open, she looked up from the ground to see Rumpelstilskin stiff and trying as hard as he could to conceal any bit of emotion. But she could see right through him, he was terrified and she knew he didn't do well with things he didn't understand. For the longest time he hadn't been afraid of monsters or men or death, but he was scared of this woman and what she was doing to him.

"So, what are you going to do to me?" Belle asked, she looked straight into his eyes, knowing fully that whatever he was going to say he wouldn't mean. He raised his arm and pointed his finger at the open door.

"Go."

She looked at him, he said that, he didn't mean that, she didn't move but instead she tilted her head to the side and simply responded without any fear and the knowledge that he couldn't hurt her, "You don't want that." She stood up and faced him, directly a foot away from him

"Well you happen to be mistaken." He said coldly, he was trying as hard as he could to look at anything else but her but that was impossible. "I don't want you anymore dearie."

"No you don't, as much as you hate to admit it you don't." she showed no signs of moving a muscle. "You think that you are a monster and that I can't love you but I can and I do. And do you know what else?" he was silent. "You love me. The kiss worked so you can't deny it." She stared him down and leaned against the wall, awaiting his response.

"Well dearie, the thing is that I happen to care about my powers more than you, so if you would, get out." He was cold, he was shaking ever so slightly, and he didn't mean a word. She stepped closer to him. "Well if that's true then nothing I do will hurt you, if you don't love me then why are you so afraid?" she was on the brink of tears but she wasn't going to show that for a moment, her voice was assertive and furious.

Rumpelstilskin looked into her eyes, he could have transported her anywhere else, far away from him and the Dark Castle, he could have transformed her into something or someone or done anything to get her away from him. But he wouldn't, he couldn't, he didn't want to. This wasn't a test like before when he sent her out to get straw, this wasn't to see it she would come back, this was a lie, to her and to himself. Especially to himself, this was something that couldn't be forgotten by spinning wheel. He was afraid, _you are a coward, and you lost everyone and everything because of that,_ he told himself.

"I am not leaving, you said I was going to have to stay here forever." She said, inches away from him. "Rumpelstilskin do not break our deal."

 _Remember what happened the last time you broke a deal._

 _She's lying._

 _The kiss worked._

 _You are a coward._

 _Don't let her go._

 _Who could ever love you?_

Thoughts crowded his head to the point where he gave up, against what he thought was his better judgment he said, "It's your choice dearie." And with that he vanished, the door slammed shut. She smiled and sat on the cold, dungeon ground.

(Storybrooke)

Henry stood paralyzed, he heard rumors about the notorious Mr. Gold, the cruel landlord who took, didn't look back, and left others miserable. He was a middle-aged, skinny man with a suit and a cane. Something that was terrifying for some reason.

Mr. Gold looked over the mess; there was absolutely nothing he cared about in the pile of shattered ceramic and glass. _The Mills boy, well Regina, we are certainly going to have a talk about this._ He sighed and noticed the fear in the boy's eyes.

"So I assume that your mother sent you here for some reason, or were you just browsing?" he gave a sarcastic smile and turned his back to Henry as he went to get a broom from the supply closet.

Henry regained his voice, "I'm so sorry Mr. Gold, please don't call my mom." Mr. Gold turned around, surprised. "Well I wasn't planning on that in the first place, I assumed you would do that yourself, right Mr. Mills?" he raised his eyebrow and stared at Henry. Henry was taken aback as he looked for an escape route from this. The Evil Queen couldn't figure out where he was, he needed to investigate the shop and he couldn't have his mom stop him.

"I-I didn't mean to do this, but my mom can't know where I am, so… is there any other way I can make up for this?" he asked. Mr. Gold hung his head and sighed, normally there was no way that anyone would get away with anything like this but Henry was just a kid, he didn't want to give it to him but he had a plan.

"Alright then Mr. Mills, here's what we're going to do, everyday after school for one month, you are going to come to this shop after you are done with school and work here for two hours. I think that will suffice for payment." He limped over to the broom at the corner of the desk and handed it to Henry, "You can start now if you like."

To his surprise Henry was beaming as he took the broom, "So after school, tomorrow?" Mr. Gold smirked and said, "Bring a suit, I'll give you further instructions tomorrow." And with that he returned to the back room.

Henry was ecstatic, not because of the work, but because he had time and the ability to examine everything in the shop, at least, he hoped he would. It didn't matter, this was perfect, he started sweeping the broken glass and continued to look around.

Isabelle locked up the library and threw down five books into her passengers seat before driving back to her apartment. The green car was small and old but it functioned, the drive back to her apartment would only take a few minutes but it was currently very cold outside and she didn't fancy carrying all her books in those particular conditions.

When she arrived at the complex she piled all her belongings into her arms and balanced all the way up three flights of stairs. If balancing books was an Olympic sport, there was no way Isabelle would even qualify to compete, every book tumbled down right as she reached her door. She unlocked the door before scooping her books up and went into her apartment.

Her 'house' wasn't that big and it was made even smaller by the amount of bookshelves covering her walls. It consisted of a kitchen, living room area, bathroom, and bedroom. The living room area had two large, comfortable armchairs that had fluffy blankets over the backs. A fireplace was in the middle of one wall, one the others there were three bookshelves that reached the ceiling and filled to the brim with novels, poetry, biographies, history, art, and every genre she could get her hands on. The mantle above the fireplace was crammed with snow globes and pictures and in the corner of the room stood a tall overhead lamp. What you could see of the walls was painted a mossy green and a fuzzy rug of the same color was spread across the room.

It wasn't big but it was home.

Isabelle took off her shoes and threw them onto a spot by the door; she put her purse on one of the armchairs, went to her bedroom, and placed all her borrowed book on the nightstand next to her bed. She fell back on the mattress, closed her eyes and relaxed. The day had been the same as it always was and she needed a break from it all. The heating in her apartment wasn't the best so she kicked off her shoes and coiled herself in soft blankets, her head hit her pillow and her mind started racing.

 _Henry doesn't think his book is real, this has to be a prank, but he's a good kid so why would he skip school? Was it what I told him, I hope not. The Mayor isn't that bad, and she loves Henry so why would she hurt him? She does a lot of things but she would never do that. Dr. Hopper is going to take care of it, stop worrying Isabelle._

But she felt it was her place, she knew all the kids in Storybrooke seeing as how they would come in for homework or class trips to the library. Every Wednesday there would be a Parents Night where kids would come in and some volunteer would help her maintain about twenty 4-11 year olds. She looked out for the kids, to them she was sort of a cool aunt, breaking the stereotype of the old, strict librarian by extending due dates and taking care of them. Henry had never shown up to any of the Parent Nights, for some reason Mayor Mils didn't like her in the slightest. But he did come with his class and multiple times after school. He was an interesting child, always questioning everything and letting his imagination run wild. From what she had known about him this recent development wasn't anything new, it was the comment about his mother that bothered her.

 _Dr. Hopper will take care of it, he isn't your responsibility._

And with that she completely forgot to eat dinner or changer her clothes and closed her eyes until she was asleep.

(The Enchanted Forest)

Belle woke up on a thick carpet, she remembered falling asleep in the dungeon, a flood of events came rushing to her head. Rumpelstilskin had transported her to the library in the middle of the night; she sat up and looks around for any sight of him. There was a note on the mahogany table in his handwriting.

 _Since you refuse to leave I suppose you should at least stay somewhere comfortable. –Rumpelstilskin_

She smiled, she knew she wouldn't be locked up here, he wouldn't keep her up there for long (even though it was not a bad place to stay). But she knew something else to.

"I know you're listening Rumpelstilskin." She said loudly. "You always listen, and you're not standing in front of me so you don't need to deny anything. You're not going to keep me up here forever, I know you better than you care to admit, and you can't stand the fact that I'm here and not with you." She paused, walked over to the locked doors, and sat down with her back pressed against the wood. "I'm not trying to get rid of your power, I'm not working with the queen, and I'm not trying to take advantage of you. You brought me here because you were lonely, you've grown so used to being alone that you don't know what to do when someone actually loves you. But you don't need to be scared, you just need to understand that you can be loved." She smiled and waited for a response she knew she wouldn't get. "Come get me when you realize that."

On the other side of the castle Rumpelstilskin smiled and mumbled, "Not today dearie."

 **Thanks for reading, please review, and also if there are any characters or things you would like to see please tell me and I might incorporate them in.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer- All characters and worlds belong to the creators of OUAT**

Henry ran up to his room and hastily searched his closet for his suit, he knew he had one, and although a bit small and worn it would suffice. He put it on, threw on his backpack, and ran out the front door. He jumped on his bike and rode to the pawnshop.

He wasn't quite sure what work he would be doing, he didn't know much about the pawnshop but he did know that it was nearly always closed, and when it was open almost no one went in. _Am I just going to be cleaning? That wouldn't be so bad._ He thought.

He wasn't far from wrong, when he arrived at the shop he chained his bike up to one of the nearby racks and ventured in. It was as dark as ever and looked as though absolutely nothing had changed since he had left the previous day, there was no sign of anyone.

"Mr. Gold," Henry called out, he turned around to examine the room, and this would be the day when he would find proof, where he would find an object of the other world. He heard footsteps from behind, Mr. Gold had emerged from the backroom, and Henry notched his head to get a look at the room behind.

"Don't go back there, you hear?" Mr. Gold said, noticing his curiosity. He faced Henry and leaned against his cane as he surveyed him. "Well Mr. Mills I appreciate the effort but I'm afraid I can't let you work like that." Henry looked down at the state of his suit. His shirt wasn't completely tucked in, his jacket wasn't buttoned, and his tie seemed to have been tied by a monkey. Henry stood awkwardly and mumbled, "I didn't have any help."

"Well let's fix that then shall we," Mr. Gold walked over to a large, covered object, took off the sheet and revealed a grand mirror. Henry looked at how disheveled he looked next to Mr. Gold. He started to tuck the dress shirt into his pants, "Now, what you'll want to do with the collar is fix it up like this," Henry turned up the collar of his dress shirt in order to get a better grasp at his tie.

"Now, that tie of yours, firstly it is not in anyway fitting the rest of your attire but we'll let that slide for now." Henry undid his tie and tied it properly, although still slightly messy. "That will do, now neatly fold down the shirt collar and then lift up the jacket, button it down, and that, Mr. Mills, is how you look presentable."

Henry smiled as he looked at his more formal dress and Mr. Gold went behind the counter. "Now, here is what you will be doing, everyday you will stay for one hour, you will have to clean up around the shop, sweeping, dusting, whatever it is I need you to do. I will have specific instructions for you everyday but that is the general consensus." He guided Henry to one of the many shelves, "You will start here today, there is supplies in the closet right over there," he pointed to a door behind the counter, "and as I said under no circumstances should you go into the backroom. Understand dearie?" Henry nodded as Mr. Gold turned to return to the backroom.

"What if someone comes in the shop?" Henry asked. Mr. Gold seemed very amused at this idea, "Mr. Mills, the last person who came into this shop to actually buy something that I can remember, was you. If someone came into this shop that would be news to me." He smiled and closed the door as he disappeared into his room.

Henry spent the next hour dusting and sweeping, it was still to dark to see anything specific, next time he planned to ask Mr. Gold about the objects in the store. But there wasn't a word from the reclusive man the entire time he was there. Henry had been keeping an eye on one of the many clocks in the room, he was all done and there still wasn't a word from Mr. Gold. Henry walked quietly up to the door of the backroom and knocked on the door.

No answer, he knocked again.

Still no answer, he cracked the door open, Mr. Gold was sitting at the spinning wheel and mindlessly letting the wheel go round and round. Henry watched intently as something sparked in his brain, Mr. Gold whirled around and made eye contact with him, Henry closed the door quickly.

Mr. Gold emerged from the backroom and closed the door behind him before he faced Henry, "I thought I told you not to go in there Mr. Mills." He said with a great hint of sternness.

"I knocked on the door and you didn't answer, and um, it's been an hour Mr. Gold." He stammered. Mr. Gold looked over at one of the clocks, "So it has, I suppose you better be on your way." He started to go back inside the backroom.

"What were you doing with the spinning wheel?" Henry asked.

"Well I was just making sure it was working properly, everything in that room needs to be repaired, all very delicate." Said Mr. Gold with smoothness. Henry nodded as he started towards the door, "See you tomorrow."

He hopped on his bike and sped home, he had found the Beast.

Once home Henry consulted his list.

 _Mr. Gold- The Beast/Rumpelstilskin_

That was the odd thing about this book, there were new endings, characters dispersed in random stories, everything was untraditional. Henry flipped to the pages of Rumpelstilskin and his tale, the man that would soon be turned into a man was a passing resemblance of Mr. Gold, same face and body, he even had the limp. Even though the man in the story was poor and weak, Mr. Gold always had the aura of importance and danger.

Henry flipped to the tale of _Beauty and the Beast,_ in this book the Beast was Rumpelstilskin, he was the all-powerful Dark One. He had taken Belle in as his maid when she made a deal with him, he would rid her land of the ogres if she became his caretaker, and she stayed with him for many months until they fell in love. Then things got complicated.

Henry racked his brain, he had known Isabelle for years, he had never seen her with nor had she even mentioned Mr. Gold. Then he remembered what the Queen had done; of course they didn't know each other in this land.

Henry didn't know how long the curse had been around, but nothing had ever changed, he noticed how he was the only one in his class to ever get any older, something that no one had seemed bothered by, but it bothered him a lot. He was adopted, when he was younger he had noticed how all the kids in his class had both a mom and a dad, he only had a mom. When he asked his mom about it she sat him down and explained it.

"You were given up by a woman who didn't deserve to have you, and I was looking for a very special child to raise, so some people told me about you and I went up to where you were and took you home with me." She told him.

At first he was confused and sad and didn't understand why his birth mom would give him up. He asked Regina about it a lot but she always told him that it didn't matter who gave birth to him, it only mattered that she raised him. This was before he knew she was the Evil Queen but he still felt like she was hiding something, he still didn't know what that was but the picture was clearer.

He asked his teacher about it,

"Well your birth mother probably didn't want to give you up Henry, a lot of mother might be too young or might not have the money to raise a child. She probably made a big sacrifice so you could have a good life."

And that answer had satisfied him for three years. Until he realized something, no one ever left Storybrooke and no one ever came in. So how could he? This was the question he needed the answer to more than anything else. Ever since he had realized the truth about the town and the curse and everything, this question that he had locked behind a door for such a long time was knocking hard. He could feel that the key was near.

He studied the end of the book; the Queen had laid a curse over the land where "they would all be sent to a place with no happy endings." But there was a catch, Rumpelstilskin had given a prophecy, on the 28th birthday of the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, she would come as the Savior and break the curse. Had it been 28 years? The Savior had to come eventually.

The question's knocks turned into loud bangs.

Who was the Savior, where was the Savior, he knew she was somewhere outside Storybrooke, he could go outside Storybrooke and he could come outside Storybrooke.

 _What if…._

 _If I'm 10 and she's 28 she would have been 18 when I was born, too young…_

 _My mom hates even the mention of her…_

 _I'm the only new person to come in to Storybrooke in anyone's memory…_

 _It's impossible._

 _Unless…_

 _It's worth a try._

Things needed to change, time needed to be in motion; the curse needed to be broken, Henry needed to find the Savior.

( **The Enchanted Forest** )

Belle counted the days, turned weeks, that she spent in the library. She refused to break, her time was spent reading, she knew that there was no way she would make it though the entire library, even if she spent her entire lifetime there, but even surrounded by books she was not happy. It practically killed her that he was so close yet so far, he would talk to him but there was never a response. Everyday meals would appear, breakfast right before she woke up, lunch and dinner whenever she wasn't looking. There was always afternoon tea, it was exactly the same as she used to make it for the two of them but now it tasted bitter and lonely.

The second morning waking up in the library she was covered in a large blanket and there was a pillow under her head, the very same pillow he had given her when she was crying in the dungeon.

But the library wasn't a dungeon, nor was it a prison, it wasn't a home either like the Dark Castle had grown to be, it was a waiting room. She waited for Rumpelstilskin to make up his mind, how long that would take she didn't know.

Rumpelstilskin could not repress these feelings, he had tried for months, every since he had caught her when she had fallen from the ladder. At first it had worked, he would disregard her, send her off to do chores, and generally pretend to be uninterested in her. But that became more and more impossible. He didn't notice that she went out of her way to be close to him or that she laughed at his jokes or that she loved him. Past experiences had made him blind to affection.

But he did notice when she came back. He knew that meant something.

But she had tried to take away his power, the Queen had sent her to do that, he spun to forget all of it but this time it was different.

 _She couldn't have been working with the Queen, she hasn't been outside long enough for that to happen._

 _She stayed, if she wanted to escape she could have._

 _She came back._

 _She came back._

 _The kiss worked._

These thoughts tortured him as he spun, he was afraid of loosing his magic, his power, his crutch.

 _But am I more afraid of loosing her?_

 _ **She will leave you like Milah**_

 _ **She is working with the Queen**_

 _ **She knows your weaknesses**_

The Dark voices beat up his subconscious, they had done so for so long, when he let go of Baelfire, when he killed Milah, now. They controlled him, made him make all the wrong choices, until he didn't hear them, when he made the choices himself. He spun the straw as gold strands came out, falling in the huge pile that was nearly three meters tall. He didn't want the voices to win this time.

Belle finished reading her twelfth book; she stacked it up on the pile in the corner of the room that was growing rapidly. She had already poured through a good number of books in the room before, not nearly enough to even make a dent in the overall amount but a good number. She was still waiting but this was a good way to wait.

"It's been a week, usually you don't take this long to make a decision." She talked to him, not expecting a response but it made her a little more content to know he was listening. "You need to get up from your wheel, I know that's all you've been doing." She spoke softly to the silence. "Rumpelstilskin if you have been at that spinning wheel for an entire week you need to let me out to at least feed you properly, unless you're eating your gold." She paused.

Whenever he got like this in the past, shut in his mind and ignoring the world she had took it upon herself to take care of him. She would either call his name or tap him on the shoulder to give him tea or food or remind him to go make deals and cause mischief. Sometimes he would do what she said and disappear, then return a few days later as his regular animated self, though eventually she decided it was better to have him with her than elsewhere. There were no books on the Dark One in the library, Belle knew that he didn't want her to find his weaknesses, she didn't think he had any but when he was in a trance at his wheel she was convinced that his weaknesses were inside his head.

She needed to get them out. She knew there was a man in there somewhere. The woman on the road might have been evil and she might have been the Queen, but she was also right. Once upon a time Rumpelstilskin had been a man, a man with a son, a son he had lost to something she didn't know. What was left was a thick shell that covered up someone very lost. She was so close to finding him.

"Take your time then, but I won't wait forever."

Suddenly there was a sound of rustling paper, not from one of the thousands of books, but from a single leaf of paper with careful handwriting that said,

 _If you say so dearie_

There was a clicking sound.

Belle took the note and tightly grasped it in her sweaty palm as she put her hand around the door handle. She pulled, delighted to feel it opening up to her home. Her waiting was over.

At her feet was a rose and a chipped teacup with steaming tea in it. She smirked to herself as she picked up the objects and rushed down the stairs, careful not to spill the hot brown liquid that she was sure would taste better than ever.

 **Thank you for reading, please review with your thoughts.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Please review with constructive criticism or requests for characters or scenes. Thank you guys so much for the positive feedback!**

 **Disclaimer- All characters belong to the creators of Once Upon A Time**

The time Henry spent after school in the pawnshop wasn't fruitless, although Mr. Gold almost never came out of the backroom, when he did it was usually to collect rent or do whatever he did. In the week he was working there Henry had always finished up before Mr. Gold retuned, until the day he didn't. Regardless, Henry had already found several artifacts from the other world, all hidden in plain sight.

When he arrived to the shop on the eight-day the shop was closed like always, Henry had taken it upon himself to change the sign himself when he entered. Today the shop was empty like always, there was a list of instructions on the back door, dust shelf abc, polish items xyz, ect, ect. Today there was an extra comment.

 _Mr. Mills,_

 _Although I am sure this will not make the slightest of differences in your work quality, you should be notified that I will not be in the shop at all during your work hour due to some business must attend._

He stared at the knob of the backroom door, he tried it but it was locked, he had tried this before when Mr. Gold was gone but it was always locked. _Smart,_ thought Henry this time.

He was genuinely unsure about whether or not Mr. Gold actually checked after he left to make sure if he was cleaning. It never seemed like he did so Henry decided to take this time to search. In the past few days he had already found several things, the clock from the story of Pinocchio, the puppet parents of Jiminy Cricket, a tiara that belonged to one of the princesses, a model of the windmill from the story of Prince Charming, a brass lamp that was certainly the genie's, and the spinning wheel.

The search was mostly unsuccessful, he hadn't found much, only things that looked as though they could be from the other world but didn't have any pictures to match. There were more words than illustrations that made things really difficult to search for; he made a mental note to make a list of things that were described. There was one object that he knew of that he hadn't found yet.

The chipped cup.

Henry was sure that Mr. Gold and Isabelle French had never even met. Rumpelstilskin had done something to the Queen, and as the last few chapters of the book had shown there was no doubt that she would design the curse to include the fact that Rumpelstilskin and Belle would not even know each other.

Rumpelstilskin had wanted to come to the World Without Magic, as it was called in the book, when he had first obtained the power of the Dark One he hadn't been able to control it, the darkness had taken him over and made him evil, his son had asked him to go to A World Without Magic so the curse would no longer control him. His son Baelfire had found a way to travel, using the last magic bean, they almost went through but at the last moment Rumpelstilskin didn't go through and he lost his son to the other world. He was forever separated from him; the curse had been his way to find him.

Mr. Gold did not remember his son.

At least Henry was fairly certain that was the case, that would be the sort of revenge the Queen would dish out, first take away the memory of his love and place her so close to him, then take away the memory of his son. That wasn't personal though, Regina had done that to everyone, Snow White didn't have her Prince, there was a girl in his class who went home everyday with people who were not her parents. Some of the adults who had children before were childless.

It was at times like this when he didn't know what to make of his mother.

When he arrived home he was surprised to see his mother sitting at the dining room table, apparently waiting for him, he was even more surprised to see that sitting across from her was Archie Hopper.

"Hello Henry." Henry stopped in his tracks and faced the man that was once Jiminy Cricket, he was the same yet he was so different. In his story he asked the blue fairy to turn him into a cricket so he could be free from his parents, he was transformed and became a conscious, sent to guide Geppetto and later his puppet son, in this world he was the town therapist, currently caught in the clutches of the Mayor.

"Henry can you come and sit down?" his mother asked, though it was really a command that Henry obliged to. Regina hands were closed together and her eyes were full of concern that she reserved for Henry and only Henry.

"Henry, you haven't done anything wrong, but a few people have noticed that you've been a little off." Dr. Hopper said softly. Regina's stare was nearly stabbing Henry, she looked so slightly anxious, this was a foreign emotion on the face of the Queen, something that made Henry feel extremely uneasy.

"What do you mean?" he asked, he wasn't a terrible liar per say, but Jiminy Cricket could see how his nose grew, his eyes twinkled.

"About a week ago I had a conversation with Miss French, she said that you were talking a lot about your, um…" he was cut off by Regina.

"Henry it's perfectly fine that you like fairy tales, it's great that you're reading, but according to the librarian you claimed I was the 'Evil Queen'. And we were concerned that these stories have been taking you over." She said seriously. Henry just saw this as further proof, why would a parent have a discussion with, let alone bring in a therapist, to talk about fairy tales. The Queen was making her move, but Henry knew he had to make his.

"What are you trying to say mom?" He asked as casually as possible.

"Well, according to Miss French you tried to skip school in order to show her your stories," said Dr. Hopper, his eyes wavered to the glare of the Queen. "She told us that you seem very dedicated to the idea that all these stories are real." Henry was surprised that Isabelle would sell him out like this, but something told him this wasn't what the conversation was originally about.

"Henry," his mother put her hand on his. "Do you honestly think these stories are real?" she was completely serious.

"No, of course not." He said, this sounded more convincing. But Regina still kept an icy glare on Dr. Hopper.

"Well Henry, regardless of that it is still unacceptable for you to skip school and hide away somewhere after school, and these stories seem to be what is causing your recent behavior," said Regina, "So we've arranged for you to see Dr. Hopper once a week for sessions to see what's going on."

Henry knew this was something the Queen didn't plan, she didn't expect someone to uncover the secret of the town, and she most certainly didn't expect that person to be her son. These sessions were most definitely her way to dim the spark before it turned into a flame, what she didn't realize was that all she was doing was fanning it and making it stronger.

Henry agreed to the arrangement and Dr. Hopper left, Regina looked at him then hugged him. "I'm sorry about this but I was getting concerned." Something the book had taught him was that fear of loss caused people to do awful, stupid things.

"Why are you wearing a suit?" she asked, suddenly realizing her son's attire. Now it was Henry's turn to be unprepared.

"I've been… working." He said, it was the truth but he searched for an actual explanation.

She raised her eyebrow, "Working? Where exactly?"

"Umm… I'm volunteering at the hospital…" he trailed off, that was somewhat convincing. But he could tell his mother didn't believe him.

"You need a suit to volunteer at the hospital?" she asked suspicious.

"Yeah… they told me I needed to dress formally."

Regina nodded, she planned to further investigate what her son was doing but she knew this wasn't the time. Instead she said, "Do you want to bake a pie?" She had work but it could wait, to her delight Henry nodded.

They spent the next three hours picking, cutting, and baking apples. Regina loved this time, for 18 years she had been bored with her life, even at the position of Mayor and with the town at her disposal she began to hate it. She realized that she needed a companion of some sort, not a lover, after Daniel she felt like she couldn't do that, but child. Everyone in the town looked up to her and respected her but she didn't have any actual friends. There was Graham but he didn't count. She had gone to Gold, he didn't have his memories but he had as much power in the town as she did and in her design of the curse they were semi-partners in crime. They loathed each other no matter what, some things never truly changed. But she had gone to him demanding that he help her adopt a child, he had gotten in contact with some people in Boston and she had gotten Henry. She didn't know how to be a mother exactly, but she had read books and figured it out. She did a little digging on his mother and had found that she was in fact, the Savior that Rumpelstilskin had predicted to spite her, but she had gotten her revenge on him. Regina kept Henry as far away from the truth as possible, with the recent developments she was terrified.

Henry was the only person in her life that had made her feel like she did something right and she wasn't going to let that go.

Baking pies was their way of bonding, sometimes with words sometimes without. But when Henry did something or Regina did something it was always their way of telling the other that it was okay. Sometimes they made pies without reason, those were always the best pies.

This one was great to Regina, but bitter to Henry.

Isabelle sat in the corner table of Granny's, she was reading once again, this time it was _The Princess of Cleves_ and she was completely immersed. She didn't have any cooking skills what so ever so everything she ate that had to be made in any sort of way came from Granny's. It also happened to be the place where nearly all of her social interactions occurred. She took half an hour off in the middle of everyday for lunch and closed at 6:30 before dinner. She would call herself a workaholic but her job didn't require much of her so she didn't consider herself to be.

Always the same routine, everyday, never ending.

Mr. Gold usually didn't eat dinner, he was always too immersed in his work to do such a minor task, in his opinion. There was always something in the shop that needed to be fixed, polished, or otherwise. He never felt hungry until he stopped, after years of working he had learned to live off tea and almost nothing but tea. Breakfast was the exception, and sometimes lunch. He despised going to restaurants, especially since the closest option was Granny's, which was out of the question. He was usually too preoccupied to make lunch or dinner, he always made breakfast and that seemed to keep him going for the entire day.

Always the same routine, everyday, never ending.

(The Enchanted Forest)

Belle didn't see Rumpelstilskin in the castle for many days after he let her out of the library. He was avoiding her, maybe he was scared of his curse being broken or maybe he was afraid that she no longer loved him, she didn't know but she missed him. She missed how he teased her, she missed how he would say or do something sweet and then casually shrug it off, she missed watching him spin, she missed him watching her read and then pretend not to when she noticed. She missed him more than when she was in the library because she knew she was even closer to him, yet she was a thousand times further away.

She spent her days differently, there were many times when Rumpelstilskin would go away for a day or a couple days to make deals or do whatever. But he was always back, this time he wasn't away but she still didn't know when he would be back. She would talk and she would still receive no answer, but she knew he was listening. She didn't clean as much, sometimes she did when she felt things were getting too dusty or too out of place, she didn't particularly enjoy her new freedom though. Belle would take books out of the library and read them in front of the main fireplace, she had explored the castle for months so that wasn't on her schedule. But mostly she waited.

Rumpelstiltskin spent as much time away from the castle as possible, he made deals, stole items, sometimes he didn't do anything. Why was this woman doing this? Why was he not able to let her go? Why was he not able to stay with her?

He had let her out of the library, he had unlocked the doors of the castle, he had given her the opportunity to leave forever if she wanted.

 _What if she leaves?_

 _And what if she doesn't?_

Without his wheel he didn't have a distraction, so he thought of her constantly. He thought about how she could bring the darkness out of him. Back to the time when he was about to kill Robin Hood and she had stopped him. How she made him want to save her, made him want to protect her. How she had taken to sharing tea with him, taken to reading next to him while he spun, had taken to being closer to him. He thought back to the first time he met her and she didn't fear him, how she had accepted the things he did to her at the beginning, the things he regretted doing. He thought to when she eventually started retorting to the things he said and how eventually he didn't mind, the banter and the quips. How whenever he returned from a long journey she was always in the Dark Castle and reading in one of the large library chairs. She would ask him about his journeys, she was immersed when he told her everything and annoyed when he told her little. He thought about how she always asked him questions about his past, which he never shared, but she cared, she cared enough to want to know about him. That was more than he ever imagined he would have.

Rumpelstiltskin knew that he needed her.

He snapped his fingers and thought of Belle.

She was sleeping on one of the two chairs in front of the fire place, there had originally only been one, his, but he had conjured up one when he could no longer stand her sitting on the floor when she read. She was curled up, book in hand, the fire across from her had burned out hours ago. He looked at the face that had been haunting his mind for days.

Rumpelstilskin took the book out of her hands and placed it on the table next to her, he could have just transported her with magic but he needed to be close to her. He bent down and picked her up, her legs were draped over one arm and his other arm back supported her, she unconsciously nuzzled her head into his chest. Not too far away were the tall windows that were once covered by curtains.

He carried her up the stairs to her room as quietly and carefully as he could and placed her on the bed, he tried as hard as he could to not look at her as he walked out of the room.

He didn't the smile that emerged on her face as he left.

 **I'm so excited for the Rumbelle reunion next week!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Since we're getting a reunion on the show, you're getting one in this fic too! I'm going to skip writing about Henry finding Emma because it's all first episode stuff and it's not the focus of this story.**

 **Disclaimer- All characters belong to the creators of OUAT.**

Finding his mother was harder than Henry thought, for one he didn't know anything about his birth mom, only that she had been pregnant 10 years ago. His mother had kept information about her away from him like it was a poison, something he took as a clue to her being the Savior.

It took a while but he found something that was the only option, twenty-eight years ago there was a baby girl that had been found in the woods by a hallowed out tree, exactly the same as the portal the Savior was sent through. This had to be his mom, but he wasn't sure and he didn't know who or where she was.

Thank god for the Internet.

Using his teacher's credit card (he reasoned that this would reunite Snow White with her daughter and Mary Margret was the kindest and most forgiving person he knew) he found a website called "Who's Your Mama?".

He searched _Henry Mills,_ there were more of those than he thought, he searched _Henry Mills, Boston Adoption Agency,_ there were a few of those too. _Henry Mills, Boston Adoption Agency, 2001._

Emma Swan.

And she was in Boston.

And he needed to find her immediately.

He had never been outside of Storybrooke in his life, with the exception of the very first few weeks of his life the only place he knew was the small town. He wouldn't have to go far but it would take a while, buses never came to Storybrooke, that meant that he would have to walk out of the town boarder to the nearest one, something he didn't know how long it would take. But Storybrooke needed their Savior.

He planned to venture out in a week.

Henry only had a week left of working at the pawnshop; everything had been uneventful until that today. Mr. Gold was not in the backroom, nor was he in town, this time he was in the shop. Supplies had been delivered while Henry was at school, a wooded clock that was fixed by the local carpenter. Mr. Gold was rearranging a shelf when Henry walked through the door.

"Mr. Gold, what are you doing in the front room?" he asked, not bothering to change the sign this time.

"Well it's my shop isn't it?" Mr. Gold replied. He was slightly struggling, Henry could see his bad leg shaking as he re-stacked antiques. This was perfect; Henry could finally ask his questions.

"The items on the third shelf on that side of the room need dusting Mr. Mills, that will be all for today." Henry noticed Mr. Gold grab his cane and was starting to head to the back.

"Mr. Gold do you have a son?" The man stopped in place, whirled around, and with a puzzled look on his face he replied, "No Mr. Mills, I don't." Henry had been right. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondered," Henry grabbed the duster from the supply closet and began working, "what did you do before you had a pawnshop?" _If I ask questions about his past he might remember something._

Mr. Gold leaned on his cane; he was confused by the sudden interest the Mills boy was taking in his life. "I've had it as long as I can remember." Not even bothering to give it a second thought. Henry continued to dust the objects; objects that had owners that, objects that meant a great deal to people that had lost them.

"So how's that wheel coming along?"

Mr. Gold, amused at the sudden flood of questions from the boy took a stand at the register; Henry flipped the sign on the door. "It's not quite ready, it will most likely take a very long time." But he knew that he would never actually let it out of the back room, let alone sell it.

 _But does he know Belle, or Miss French, does he know her?_ Henry was leading up to that question if not for the sudden opening of the door; the bell almost fell off at the force. _Oh no,_ Henry thought as the woman marched up to Mr. Gold.

"Gold!" Regina barked, he rolled his eyes and faced her, "Mayor Mills I can assure you that what ever you break will cost you, so next time I would appreciate if you didn't take your anger out on my door, if that wouldn't be too much trouble dearie." He narrowed his eyes at her and began to fiddle with some of the trinkets below the counter.

Regina stood tall, she looked back at Henry and then back at Mr. Gold, who was so unintimidated that he was almost bored of her presence. "What are you doing with my son and why?" she demanded.

"Well I assumed that Mr. Mills would have given you that information by now, evidently not, a few weeks ago your son wandered into my shop and broke some valuable objects, I gave him the option of simply paying me back but he declined. So I offered him a month long employment plan to pay me back, does that answer all your questions dearie?" Mr. Gold said all of this while looking down at the already shiny wristwatch he was polishing. Regina's glare was so strong it could have melted a person.

"I am taking my son home and he is not coming back here, dearie." She said, she turned around and took Henry by the arm as she lead him out. Mr. Gold didn't rise his head as he called out, "Thank you, I'll be expecting a check in the mail then."

"Henry Daniel Mills, why did you tell me that you were working at the hospital?" the fierceness in her voice was significantly dimmed but it was still detectable.

"I was just looking around once and I broke something." He replied as he climbed into the car. Regina sighed as she put the key in. "Don't go back there, you understand?"

"Yes mom." The Queen had seen him go into the Dragon's Layer, where all the lost objects were hidden in plain sight. He had collected all the information he needed but this was still a big move the Queen had made. His plan would have to be put into action as quickly as possible.

(The Enchanted Forest)

There was a rose on the foot of Belle's bed one morning; it was the morning after she had seen Rumpelstiltskin carry her up to her room. It was the first thing she saw when she awoke, the bright, sparkling red. She smiled to herself as she held it in her hand, he had been there and he had held her, she had been close to him and he still cared for her. She got dressed and hurried down the stairs, rose in hand and not knowing or expecting him to be downstairs. She was disappointed to find the castle empty.

This went on for a few days, she would find roses in random places, new treasures on the shelves from his more recent journeys, just pieces of him that he had dropped by. Pieces to let her know that he was still partially there. Belle needed these but it wasn't enough. She missed talking to him, watching him spin, being incredibly awkward around each other. She missed being close to him, and somewhere not too far away he was doing the same.

His spinning wheel had sat empty for weeks and she always sat by it when reading as she did when he was there, once in a while she would mindlessly reach out to the wheel and spin it just to hear the creak. It had been at least a week of freedom within the castle but it was a freedom she could not bare. The pieces he would leave behind didn't compose a picture.

It was a week into her freedom when she finished another book, she sat in front of the grand fireplace and her glance fell upon the abandon wheel. Without even thinking her legs guided her towards the chair and she found herself standing in front of it. Her finger pushed it so it spun slightly, soon she spun it until it went around a few times, she found her fingers intertwined with the string.

Belle had never learned how to spin, when she watched Rumpelstiltskin she was always focused on the man at work rather than the actual wheel, but it was all she had left now. She moved her hands to the top of the wheel and spun it, trying to preform the act of spinning like he did and failing. Belle didn't want to break it or mess it up but this was something she needed.

"That's not how it's done dearie."

Him.

Rumpelstiltskin.

Belle quickly spun around, he was leaning on the windowsill, only a couple of meters away from him but it seemed like an unfathomable distance. She wanted to run to him, he wanted to do the same, but both were frozen in place with eyes locked, it was a long moment before Belle regained her voice.

"Well maybe it's about time you show me." She straightened her posture and concealed all her emotions. He kept an intense gaze at her, like she was ghost of someone who had died long ago, Rumpelstilskin walked over to her with arms folded, his eyes never leaving hers. "I suppose it is."

Not so long ago there was a woman who he had taught magic, he did it so he could train her daughter for his curse, yet he had briefly fallen for her. She had chosen power over him like he tried to do to Belle. But she was still here.

Rumpelstiltskin guided Belle with spinning, but this time he didn't tell his student to think of a moment that angered her and straw turned gold was not expected. This time Rumpelstiltskin only taught Belle how to use the wheel, Belle had never acted much like royalty but it never escaped his thought, she was a princess who had chosen to be there with him. She was a flower that casted light in the darkest place he could think of.

Belle didn't want to show any emotions even though about all of them were racing through her. She was ecstatic that he had returned, she was furious that he had been gone for so long, she was terrified that he would leave again, she was trying to keep him from seeing what was going on inside. His hands guided hers as they spun the wool, this was the closeness that she had longed for for the longest time. She leaned back into him and embraced the moment, she could feel his heart beating fast and she was sure hers was doing the same. She lost focus of the wheel and simply grabbed his hands, she could feel everything in him tense up and he squeezed her hands, their fingers intertwined by this point. They both held their breath and didn't move, as if the slightest movement would destroy the perfection of this moment.

Belle quickly let go of his hands and Rumpelstiltskin's heart sank for a second before she turned around and hugged him. She held him as if he would vanish at any second and in return he wrapped his arms around her like she was going to slip through his fingers. Belle's hand reached to his head and felt through his curly hair, Rumpelstiltskin nuzzled his face into her shoulder, they were both terrified that their embrace wouldn't last forever. And it seemed like it would.

"You could have left if you wanted, the doors were unlocked." He whispered next to her ear, her eyes grew heavy with the tears she had been fighting back. "I know." She choked back, and they held each other tighter. This was right, this was how it was supposed to be, this was how they had wanted it to be.

"Rumpelstiltskin I believe you a owe me a story." She said as the broke apart, her cheeks were damp and her eyes were glossy. Rumpelstiltskin's hand unconsciously lifted to wipe the tears off her face. His body lowered to the stool and she followed to the seat next to him. His hands fiddled with a stray piece of straw, Belle's gaze never left him.

"Baelfire, his name was Baelfire." He said grimly, she saw the pain in his face but didn't say anything. "I was a coward, I left war because a seer told me that I would leave my child fatherless if I went into battle. So I left, injured myself so I could go home, I was forever branded for my cowardice, a black sheep. My wife left me for a pirate and the only thing I had left was my son." This was not a tale he had told to anyone but he didn't regret revealing himself to Belle, _She deserves this much._ He told himself.

"They were going to take him away on his fourteenth birthday to fight in the Ogre Wars, but they just were just sending him to die and I couldn't let that happen." All of this happened so long ago but it was all so vivid in his mind. "In the end I killed the Dark One, I obtained his power, and I saved my son from war." He paused for a long moment.

Belle had been taking in every word, this was the story she had been waiting for, his walls were thicker than the ones of the castle and his guard was always up. Until now, "so what happened? You saved your son, that's a good thing." He stared at her with eyes she had never seen on him before, they were eyes of grief.

"When I killed the Dark One he told me that 'magic always comes with a price', I learned that a little too late. Baelfire, he didn't want me using magic to harm others but that was all I seemed capable of at the time." Rumpelstiltskin remembered how he would see visions of the previous Dark Ones and they took control of him, told him to do horrible things until he no longer needed their assistance. "Bae didn't want me to have magic anymore, he didn't want me hurting people, I made a deal with him that if he found a way to take away the darkness and the magic then I would do it. He found a way to go to a World Without Magic, I had the opportunity to go with him and… and I let him go." Rumpelstiltskin whispered the last part of that, Bae, he let him go, he let go of his hand and let him go through the portal. "That was the only deal I have ever broken and I regretted it from the moment I let him go."

Belle stared at him, she didn't know what to think, he had never been this vulnerable not for her or for anyone. She knew she was slightly crying, "So you've been searching for him ever since?" Rumpelstiltskin nodded, "I've been working on a plan, I know I'll find him again."

"I know you will." Belle smiled at him and leaned over to wrap her arms around his neck and he wrapped his around her middle, they both closed their eyes in relief and sadness and love. "Promise you won't leave again?" she said.

"I promise." He responded, and she her mouth broke into a smile.

 **Sorry this chapter took a little longer than usual but YaYYYYy Rumbelle has been reunited in the show! I'm so excited even though I think the episode could have been a little better personally.**


End file.
